SDL 2.26 RC1 Released While SDL3 Development Soon To Get Underway

SDL 2.26 RC1 was released today as the pre-release for the upcoming SDL 2.26 library.

SDL2 continues to be used by a wide variety of cross-platform software -- primarily games -- for abstracting various hardware and software interfaces. SDL2 plays a huge role particularly in the Linux gaming space.

SDL 2.26 is being worked on as the next feature release with some of the changes including:

- Simulated vsync for SDL2's software renderer.

- Various new SDL joystick hints have been added, particularly around Xbox One and Xbox 360 controller behavior as well as some Nintendo Wii and Joy-Con controller hints too.

- SDL2's HIDAPI driver has added support for Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 controllers.

- Vsync synchronization support on macOS 12.

- New SDL APIs for interacting with the X11 primary selection clipboard on Linux.

- A new hint on Linux for controlling whether mouse pointer warp emulation is enabled under Wayland.

- IME soft keyboard input support on Android.

See today's SDL 2.26 RC1 announcement for more details on the changes prepared so far ahead of the v2.26.0 milestone.

Work meanwhile continues on SDL preferring Wayland over X.Org by default. It looks now like SDL 3.0 will be the point at which that change is made, potentially PipeWire by default too. SDL 3.0 looks like it could materialize as a nice point for modern Linux gaming without relying on legacy interfaces.

SDL 3.0 is also looking at new APIs for precision scrolling / pressure sensitive pens / video input / asynchronous file I/O, better ANGLE support, and more. SDL3 development is expected to begin in more robust fashion after this upcoming 2.26 patch release. More discussions around SDL3 logistics are happening via this issue ticket.